Democratic congressional candidate Kim Weaver grew up in Des Moines and went to Roosevelt High School, but told KCCI she wants to represent the 4th District because she has called Northwest Iowa home for the past 25 years.

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Weaver is no stranger to politics, but she decided now is the time to run for Congress.

“I worked on the last two campaigns helping Jim Mower and Christie Vilsack, and I just saw that Steve King wasn't really doing anything for Iowa,” Weaver said.

Weaver lives in Sheldon, Iowa, where she works as a long-term care ombudsman, an advocate for seniors in nursing homes and assisted living programs.

“It's a very, very rewarding job,” Weaver said. “If somebody has a problem that their mom is not getting her medications correctly or on time or her pain is being ignored, they can call me.”

Weaver said her career has made her very aware of the concerns seniors have. That is why, if elected, she plans to work to expand Medicare to cover nursing homes and assisted living facilities.

“Because in Iowa -- and we are one of the cheapest states in the country -- it is anywhere from $8,000 to $10,000 a month for private pay if you are in a nursing home,” Weaver said. “And in the past, I have four families that I worked with who had to sell their family farms.”

When she is not working, Weaver spends time with her three children.

“I have been a single mom since 2003,” Weaver said. “My kids have been very easy. I was fortunate that I didn't have to tell them to turn the TV off to do their homework.”

All three of Weaver’s children are high achievers. Her oldest graduated from MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), her daughter is in medical school to become an OB-GYN and her youngest son is at Iowa State majoring in geology.

Weaver said knows all about the difficulties of student loan debt, and that why it will be the first thing she works to reform if elected to Congress.

“My program … I am calling it i-Give: generating investment through volunteer engagement,” Weaver said. “It would allow young graduates, as well as parents with parent PLUS loans, to volunteer four hours a week in the community in exchange to have their student loan interest and their payments deferred, and at the end of the year they would then be able to have a portion of their debt forgiven.”